NC, UML in competition

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By Our Reporter
Despite rains and strike called by the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, the second phase of local elections concluded in Provinces 1, 5 and 7 on Wednesday.
It may take about 10 days to complete the vote counting. Many analysts have claimed that the CPN-UML was likely to sweep the results in Province 1 and 5 whereas Nepali Congress would emerge the strongest party in Province 7.
The CPN-UML had won more seats in the first phase polls. The party swept the results in the urban areas, including Kathmandu valley.
After UML emerged as the first party in the first phase of the local elections, other political parties were playing new strategy to defeat UML in the second phase elections.
The general strike called by the RJP-N remained ineffective in three provinces. The party that had boycotted the local election had called the general strike with an intention of disrupting the polls. However, the voters defied their strike even in the stronghold areas of the RJP-N, clearly indicating the diminishing strength of the party.
The government had postponed the local election of Province 2 to September 18 due to threats issued by the RJP leaders. However, the successful conclusion of the poll in all three provinces proved that elections could have been possible even in Province 2 on Wednesday.
In districts having RJP dominance in No 5 province, instead of launching protest programmes, local RJP leaders have given candidature as the independent candidate. Central level RJP leaders were unable to stop their workers from contesting elections. Now, RJP leaders are saying that as the local units are the base for the party, they could not stop their workers from contesting elections as they didn’t want to lose the local base.